UN warns 60 million Chinese baby girls may be aborted or killed

CHINA must curb its desire for boys or risk between 40 and 60 million baby girls being aborted or killed in the next decade, a UN official warned yesterday.

Khalid Malik, the UN’s resident co-ordinator in China predicted the ripple effect would be a “huge societal issue”. The shortage of women will have “enormous implications” on China’s sex industry and problems with human trafficking, he said.

Official government figures estimate China’s sex ratio is about 116 boys for every 100 girls, but other estimates put it as high as 122 boys to every 100 girls, Mr Malik said. The number of males for every 100 females in most countries is between 104 and 106.

Some parents in China, where a one-child policy is still widely enforced, are so intent on a boy that they abort female foetuses and kill or abandon baby girls o try again, rights groups say.

Expectant mothers are often offered sympathy when they tell acquaintances that they are expecting a girl.

“People are exercising their preferences, but the consequences for society are enormous,” Mr Malik said in Beijing.

“In another eight to 10 years, we will have something like 40-60 million missing women, as it were, in China.”

Mr Malik said the problem would be among three issues highlighted in the new UN report next week on China’s progress in alleviating poverty and improving quality of life.